Jason Derulo, who has the current No. 1 pop song in the country with “In My Head” and is the first solo male in the history of Billboard’s pop chart to notch consecutive No.1s with his first two entries,will be among the headliners at the May 29 B104 Night at Allentown’s Mayfair festival.

“In My Head,” which Derulo sang last week on FOX-TV’s “American Idol,” follows the massive success of his “Whatcha Say,” which has sold 3 million copies and was No. 1 for four weeks in November and December.

Both are from his self-titled debut album, which was released March 2 and is at No. 11 this week.

Derulo will be among four acts on the Cabaret stage that night at the Memorial Day weekend festival at Allentown’s Cedar Beach. Also among the acts will be rising Bethlehem pop-punk band Sandlot Heroes.

Two other acts for the show, a solo male and solo female, are to be announced Monday.

“No disrespect to past shows but I think we've outdone ourselves with the 2010 lineup,” station program director Eric Chase said.

Admission to the show will be free with tickets to the festival -- $5 per day or $10 for the four-day event.

“In My Head” has been on the chart for 17 weeks and was No. 3 last week.

Radio station WAEB-FM 104.1, which sponsors B104 night, has started revealing the night’s four acts in a puzzle page on its website, www.b104.com. Listeners who correctly guess all four acts’ identities by 5 p.m. Friday will get VIP tickets to the show.

No act has been completely revealed, but Chase confirmed the partially revealed Derulo and Sandlot Heroes.

Partially revealed photos show the remaining two acts are a solo female and solo male.

Before tickets to Disney star Selena Gomez’s concert at Bethlehem’s Musikfest festival go on sale to the public Friday, the fest is giving away a pair of VIP tickets.

VIP area tickets to the Aug. 13 show at Musikfest’s main RiverPlace cost $42 (other tickets to the show start at $20) and will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Friday at www.musikfest.org or by calling 610-332-3378.

Other tickets going on sale Friday will be to shows by Counting Crows on Aug. 6, Heart on Aug. 10, and Styx and Blue Oyster Cult on Aug. 12.

Tickets to Adam Lambert’s Aug. 13 show go on sale to ArtsQuest members May 3 and to the public May7. So, presumably, will the festival’s closing night show – the headline act of which has not been announced.

But you can enter a contest to win the tickets by registering with ArtsQuest, the non-profit organization that holds Musikfest, at http://www.musikfest.org/contests/selena.asp. Only one registration per e-mail address is permitted.

The Icelandic volcano eruption that closed European airports has caused an acclaimed pianist to pull out of his performance Saturday at Allentown’s Symphony Hall — the first cancelation of his career — and forced a seminal British heavy metal band to reschedule its shows this weekend at Allentown’s Sterling Hotel, officials said.

Pennsylvania-born Peter Orth, an internationally acclaimed piano soloist who now lives in Germany, was scheduled to play with the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, and Welsh rockers Budgie were to play two of just six U.S. dates at The Sterling on Friday and Saturday.

Peter Orth

But the floating layer of dust from last Wednesday’s massive eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano kept thousands of airline flights grounded in several areas, including around London and Germany, leaving the artists no way to get here in time for the shows.

Orchestra Executive Director Catharine DeBoeser said the cancelation was the first ever for Orth, who has even performed while ill.

“Peter feels very badly,” she said. “He’s beside himself that he can’t get over.” DeBoeser said Orth, who has lived in Germany since 1992, went to the airport, where some flights had resumed, but planes were landing with engine damage from flying through the volcanic ash. “This is not worth life and limb,” she said.

Replacing Orth for the show at 7:30 p.m. Saturday will be Michael Gurt, a distinguished Louisiana pianist who has performed with the orchestra 13 times and was to do an area benefit concert, DeBoeser said. Rather than Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in f minor that Orth was to play, Gurt will perform Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in g minor.

A master class Orth was to give Sunday at Wesley Church has been canceled, DeBoeser said. She said the orchestra is looking to have Orth perform for its 2011-12 season, possibly as the season opener.

The British metal trio Budgie will play its Sterling shows at 8 p.m. May 28 and 29, promoter “Chef Jeff” Thomas said. He said tickets for the original show dates will be honored on the new dates, and that anyone who can’t make the new dates can return tickets to the place of purchase for a refund. For details call610-433-3480.

“Sorry for any inconvenience,” the band says in a posting on its website. “Due to the grounding of areoplanes in Europe, we are having to reschedule our American gigs.”

Budgie bassist/singer/front man Burke Shelly

Budgie’s shows are part of a tour for the approaching 40th anniversary of the release of its first, self-titled disc in 1971. Budgie also has a new member, former Dio guitarist Craig Goldy, who was to make his U.S. debut with the band.

The U.S. tour has only six dates, with two at The Sterling, on Hamilton Street. The band sold out The Roxy Theater in Northampton in 2004.

Budgie has never been a hit in the United States, but had its songs covered by more popular bands such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, Soundgarden and Van Halen, and influenced many other metal bands.

More than 95,000 flights European flights were canceled in the last week alone, meaning even though some flights have resumed, airlines faced the enormous task of working through the backlog.

This week marks two-thirds of the way through Ellen DeGeneres’s first season on “American Idol,” with a dozen more episodes before the Season 9 winner is crowned May 26.

So how has she done so far?

A resounding “eh.”

She has brought absolutely nothing to the show. Nothing.

Which can be both good and bad.

The good is that she isn’t up and running through the crowd dancing with every song. That’s what I fully expected when they announced she would replace Paula Abdul: that she would make “American Idol” the nighttime version of her daytime “Ellen” talk show. Thank god, that hasn’t happened.

Ellen DeGeneres: A resounding 'eh'

But in her 24 shows so far, I can’t think of a single instance – not one – in which she offered any real insight. Nothing that advanced a contestant’s understanding, nothing that has told viewers she has any iota of knowledge about music of performing. Nothing.

Maybe that’s by design. Maybe the honchos at “Idol” told her to cool it for a season to get acclimated and they’d let her cut loose next year – especially when judge Simon Cowell disappears.

If that’s not true, I think part of the problem is that she is always – always – the second voice we hear, after judge Randy Jackson. I guess the producers are putting Jackson first to try to make him an “authority” when Cowell is gone next year.

Again, I guess that’s by design, but Ellen never disagrees with Jackson – who I think this season has shown himself to be an idiot when it comes to music. She has no original thought, and appears afraid to contradict Jackson. Who, in case you didn’t hear me the first time, I think is an idiot when it comes to music.

Maybe he could play bass well enough to be in Journey, but this guy knows nothing about talent. He fawned for weeks over Katie Stevens, who everyone knew was horrible – once even comparing her to Christina Aguilera (Cowell, thankfully, called him out, saying that was ridiculous) – before her EIGHTH PLACE FINISH.

He thinks everything is “HOT!” He tries to be current, but is clueless. Enough wasted type on Jackson.

Kara DioGuardi is almost as bad. If Jackson is clueless, DioGuardi is simply dead wrong. She has been so wrong so often, that Cowell has started to call her out, as well. When northeast Pennsylvania contestant Aaron Kelly sang thoughtful songs, DioGuardi told him he couldn’t do that because he couldn’t understand them. Cowell called that rubbish. When Andrew Garcia sang a song about war, she said he couldn’t do that. Cowell asked whether he needed to have a tank onstage. When Tim Urban sang “I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You,” she told him to lighten up! Cowell asked her if she wanted him to skip around stage.

She’s just awful. And wrong. And her lisp is annoying.

So that leaves Cowell, who like the first seven seasons is the only judge worth listening to. But it’s also clear he’s already out the door. He has little passion for the show anymore.

So, in context, Ellen isn’t horrible – she’s just nothing. But nothing in a pool of bad at least isn’t bad. Maybe, as I said, she’ll cut loose next year. I’d vote that she’s safe for another season.

Adam Lambert, the controversial glam-rock singing “American Idol” runner-up from last year, will be the headliner for Musikfest’s main RiverPlace stage on Aug. 13, the downtown Bethlehem festival has announced.

Orianthi, who has the current hit, “According to You” and was scheduled to be the guitarist on Michael Jackson’s comeback tour before his death last year, will open the show.

Tickets, at $20 to $38, will go on sale to ArtsQuest members at 10 a.m. May 3 and to the public at 10 a.m. May 7.

The Musikfest date is, as of now, the closing show in Lambert’s first solo tour, a 12-date tour that starts May 22 in Mansfield, Mass., and will stop June 4 at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre; June 5 at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, N.J.; and June 26 at Borgata Spa & Resort Event Center in Atlantic City, N.J.

Alison Iraheta, the fourth-place finisher on “Idol” that year, will open some of those dates.

Lambert, whose "American Idol" performances were marked by his signature high-pitched shiek, was runner-up to Kris Allen on “American Idol,” despite being the judges’ favorite for much of the season.

Lambert released his debut album, “For Your Entertainment,” in November, and the disc debuted at No. 3, its peak chart position. This week, the disc was No. 77 on the Billboard chart.

Its lead title single was on the chart only two weeks, peaking at No. 61, and the follow-up, “Whataya Want From Me,” released in February, was at its highest position at No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week. Another song, “Time for Miracles,” from the soundtrack of the disaster movie “2012,” peaked at No. 50 on the Billboard chart.

Lambert’s post-“Idol” career has been marked by controversy, with him declaring soon after the show ended that he was gay, then being criticized for a performance at the American Music Awards in which he kissed a male dancer, rubbed another male dancer’s face in his crotch, and dragged a female dancer across the stage.

But Lambert returned to “Idol” recently to be the show’s first ex-contestant to act as a mentor to new contestants.

Lambert’s show is the ninth to be announced for the 10-day Musikfest, which is scheduled Aug. 6-15.

Poker Face’s song “I Wanna Know” was on a video of paramilitary activity by Hutaree, a group authorities describe as a Christian militia. Nine alleged members of Hutaree planned to overthrow the government, starting by killing a police officer, then attacking members of the officer's funeral procession, officials said.

The home page of Hutaree's Web site also had a link to Poker Face’s website, calling the band "Patriot Rock." Poker Face, a group that has been active on the Lehigh Valley music scene for two decades, often weds hard rock with anti-government lyrics.

Poker Face members have said many individuals and groups request use of its music for movies, videos and other presentations, and that it always requires credit through a link to the band’s website. “Any interaction with Hutaree was limited to this request,” Toptete said.

But the Anti-Defamation League’s item says that in “June 2003, Poker Face members, including Topete, attended and sang at a conference sponsored by American Free Press, an anti-Semitic conspiracy-oriented newspaperand The Barnes Review, a Holocaust denial publication.”

It also says Topete “has appeared at anti-immigrant events, where he shared the stage with xenophobic leaders who demonize undocumented immigrants, particularly from Mexico. At one rally in June 2007, area white supremacists were in attendance. To promote an anti-immigrant event in Pennsylvania in 2007, two Poker Face members called in to the Hal Turner Show, a white supremacist radio program.”

And it attributes to Topete anti-Semitic postings – including ones calling the Holocaust a hoax -- on the message board of Poker Face’s Web site.

Barry Morrison, regional president of the Anti-Defamation League, said the group "actively monitors groups and organizations and individuals that are engaged in extremist activity and that express hatefull views," was aware of Poker Face since 1995. Morrison said people in the Allentown area familiar with the group had alerted the league.

"We kept an eye on it since then," Morrison said. "The group has the right to do what it wants to do and they have the right to express themselves." But he says his organization equally has an obligation to make people aware "of their ties or relationships" to extremistd and that it's an anti-goverment and led by an anti-Semtic leader."

Topete, in response to an e-mail seeking a response to the league’s item, referred to Poker Face’s website, on which the band posted “a response to ADL’s defamation.”

It says “what the ADL is doing, not just to Poker Face, but, to many others as well, is a clear case of slander and libel.”

“Through their efforts, they influence others to take part in what they claim to rail against, defamation,” the response says.“They do have every right to talk about us.But they do not have the right to make false accusations or interfere with our livelihood by preventing us from performing.”

Poker Face’s statement says that “if visitors to our forum are offended by the articles, they must remember that we did not author them.” Rather, the band says, it believes in the free exchange of ideas, regardless of how it feels about them.

Topete has said Poker face does not deny the authenticity of the Holocaust, but the website does not repudiate or criticize those who do.

“We are not anti-Semitic, but, we will shine the spotlight on those of Jewish faith who use their heritage to escape criticism, especially when it comes to crimes against this country, but also against their own people,” the Poker Face statement says.

The statement says “this topic is never discussed in our songs. It is not displayed in our artwork. It amounts to roughly 3% of the content on our forum board.”

The statement likewise does not repudiate statements saying Israel was involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and central Pennsylvania.

“Was Israel involved?It's not beyond the scope of reasonable doubt,” the statement says.

The statement also says the band’s critics love “to call us racist because we support legal immigration and have performed at events supporting the Minutemen and Voice of the People.”

“We then try to explain that Paul has Mexican roots and his father went through the legal immigration process to become a U.S. citizen. He fully supports anyone from Mexico coming to enjoy the prosperity of the American dream, so long as they take the time to do what his father did.”

Back on March 12, Lehigh Valley Music asked “Is Taylor headed for a Swift fall?”

A little over a month later, The Country Music Awards on Sunday resoundingly answered that: You can’t get much quicker of a fall than being shut out totally on your five nominations – the first time in more than a year that Swift has gone home from an awards show without a statue.

Suddenly “Fearless” becomes “Winless.”

Just so that no one thinks this is a Taylor Swift-bashing column and Swift’s management doesn’t do something like take back my review tickets for her concert, let me say again that I think Swift has a fine career ahead of her. But I also think there are signs her ‘tween-fueled meteoric rise has crested.

Is Taylor Swift suddenly looking over her shoulder at success?

Not winning an award wasn’t the only sign.

It was just as telling that Swift also was shut out of the awards broadcast’s opening number, which tellingly featured eventual Entertainer of the Year winner Carrie Underwood and second-most-statue (including Top Female Vocalist) winner Miranda Lambert (both of whom, like Swift, are only in their 20s, by the way), but not Swift. They played with Brad Paisley (eventual Top Male Vocalist) on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Traveling Band.” Creedence’s John Fogerty joined in.

Entertainer of the Year, by the way, is a fan-voted award, lest anyone think Swift’s loss was industry payback. And this year, fans voted by cell-phone texts, seemingly a method made for Swift’s audience.

It didn’t help matters that, for her performance on the awards, Swift again was badly off-key. Swift can’t seem to shake the criticism that she can’t sing live.

But in all fairness, other singers also sang poorly. Toby Keith was particularly off-key on his “Crying for Me.” Keith Urban, another Entertainer of the Year nominee who also was nominated for Best Male Vocalist (and who in September comes to the Allentown Fair) also sounded rough.

Despite Swift winning no awards Sunday, she clearly still is viewed as a force to be reckoned with. The broadcast took pains to show her often. Host Reba McIntyre, introducing Swift as an Entertainer of the Year nominee, started by saying, “That brings us to the over-achiever herself, Taylor Swift.”

McIntyre joked that backstage, she told Swift she had 34 No. 1 records and sold 55 million albums, only to have Swift reply, “Aww, anybody can have a bad year.”

“Bless her heart,” Reba said. “At least I can vote.”

Singer Julianne Hough, presenting after Swift’s performance, said, “Wow, was that not amazing?”

And in introducing her performance, L.L. Cool J (!?!) said, “A lot of people daydream in school. But our next performer didn’t just daydream. She began to live her dream. She took her thoughts and pen and paper and began to write songs. Then she grabbed a guitar and put everything together, put it all out there, and now is one of the biggest phenomenons in music. She’s made her way onto the charts and into our hearts. Ladies and gentlemen, she’s fearless, she’s talented, she’s Taylor Swift.”

But it also was very telling that once more the introduction’s focus was on Swift writing school-girl songs. As I wrote back in March, she’s 20 now, and school shouldn’t be the focus anymore.

It appears Swift, too, knows that to sustain her career, she has to evolve.

It was telling that, for her song as an Entertainer of the Year nominee, Swift chose not one of her biggest hits or best-known songs, but one of her more mature – “Change.”

If that isn’t an obvious statement, I don’t know what is.

If she does evolve, there surely is a future for her in country music. The ‘tween market that bought more than 6 million copied of “Fearless” to date may be fickle, but country fans are loyal: Note how Reba McIntyre hosted the awards, and LeAnn Rimes, who became a hit at 13 – 14 years ago – was a presenter.

In the meantime, don’t feel too bad for Swift. During the broadcast came a commercial for the new major motion picture “Letters to Juliet,” starring Allentown native Amanda Seyfried.

What Lesley Gore and Jay Black, formerly of Jay and the Americans, happily proved in their double bill at the State Theatre Saturday night, was that they both still sound like Lesley Gore and Jay Black.Gore, at 63, still has that sexy throatiness, and Black, at 71, could still hit notes in “Cara Mia” that were very possibly heard all the way to Staten Island.

Both performed a mix of old and new in separate hour-plus shows. Gore opened with Peggy Lee’s jazzy “I Love Being Here With You” and followed it by other covers, such as the Temptations’ “The Way You Do the Things You Do.” She made sure to include some of her own biggest hits. These included “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” a powerfully haunting “You Don’t Own Me,” and, of course, “It’s My Party,” wisely done in a contemporary bluesy take-off, rather than trying to duplicate the double tracking and “wall of sound” effect of the original. Her four-piece band provided great back-up vocals.

One of her best numbers turned out to be her Oscar-nominated tearful ballad “Out Here On My Own,” which she co-wrote with her brother Michael. It was a lovely piece, at once contemporary and nostalgic. Her cover of Jacques Brel’s “Crazy Carousel” also hit the mark, introduced in a slow waltz-like fashion, gradually becoming a frantic, dizzying blur.

Black mixed stand-up comedy with a remarkable voice barely touched by age. Opening with “Pretty Woman,” he crooned his way through “Only in America” and many other hits, backed by a great-sounding 10-piece band. In between were his often hysterical and usually bawdy jokes (“Frankie Valli is even older than me but shorter — that’s OK, everything shrinks with age.”) “Cara Mia” got the audience on its feet by the third note and “Come a Little Bit Closer” got them singing.

That great voice did break at times. “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South Pacific” was not a big success, and some notes in “Walking in the Rain” were cut a bit short. But Black’s self-effacing humor, heavy Brooklyn accent, and tough-guy charm made up for the few vocal snafus.

Black closed with a resounding “This Magic Moment.” Maybe we can’t go back in time, but the show brought the magic of the time back.

It’s a puzzlement, as the Mikado was wont to comment. How is it that a concert like to one at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity Sunday afternoon could have been so sparsely attended? Was it inadequate publicity? A dislike of organ music? Too much to do? Or simply the great difficulty in dragging people into church on a Sunday, no matter how great the reward?

As it turned out, the reward was indeed great. Donald Spieth, of late Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra prominence, led the Monocacy Chamber Orchestra in three works — Mozart’s adolescent Symphony No. 11 in D Major, K. 84; his rich and deeply moving Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 364, and, to make a major musical leap, Francis Poulenc’s dramatic and mercurial Organ Concerto in G Major.

Mozart’s early symphony (it was written when the composer was about 13 or 14) is charming if largely conventional. Spieth and Monocacy played it with much musicality. The soloists for the Sinfonia Concertante, one of the composer’s crowning orchestral achievements, were Domenic Salerni, violin, and Ayana Kozasa, viola. Both are recent graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Music and are now pursuing advanced studies elsewhere. Kozasa is from Tokyo, and Salerni grew up in Bethlehem. They performed this musically complex and profound work with great grace and passion. It was a mesmerizing experience. As was the Organ Concerto in G Minor. It’s a work of fierce growls and gentle undulation, all written for organ, strings, and timpani. The clean, energetic and spirited playing in the two Mozart works continued for the Poulenc as well. The Cathedral Church’s organist, Russell Jackson, was soloist in this challenging work and managed to growl and undulate to near perfection.

Perhaps if people were more aware of the delicious tidbits provided by the ladies of the church for the reception afterwards ...

The Camerata Singers were full and well-blended in an all-Mozart concert Saturday night fully supported by the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra, with wonderful effect from its three trombones.

But the venue — the Wesley Church in Bethlehem, a regular venue for PSO director Allan Birney and his musicians and generally a pleasant place to listen to music — is not the most accomodating physically. The 60+ -member chorus was sort of shoehorned in front of the organ, with the 22 orchestra players strung out to the left. The three trombone players were in fact seated in a front pew to the right and sort of behind Birney. The four soloists, on the other hand, had a prominent place front and center on the chancel. Well, no matter. The four works by Mozart — Litanae Laurentanae, K. 195; the Coronation Mass in C, K. 317; Versperae Solennes de Confessore, K. 339, and as a brief and savory lagnappe, the late Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618 — drew one of the larger audiences I’ve seen in Wesley.

The soloists were Leslie Johnson, soprano; Roger Isaacs, countertenor; Neil Farrell, tenor, and Joshua Copeland, baritone. Mozart’s music gave plenty for the soloists to do, but mostly as an ensemble. Almost all the solos were for soprano, which was, on the one hand, a good thing — Johnson is a superb singer, with a rich and even voice, and my admiration for her vocal abilities increases every time I hear her. On the other hand, the audience was not particularly exposed to the individual abilities of the other soloists. As for the Camerata Singers, my impression from looking over the rosteris that the group is stronger in male voices than it has been.

One might say that a program of this sort presents on the surface a sort of sameness that a mixture of composers would avoid. On the other hand the program it was a fascinating overview of Mozart’s choral writing that rewarded attention to the details of his composing.

The pianist Richard Goode, whose appearance at Muhlenberg College Friday concluded the college’s piano recital offerings for the season, is one of those all-too-rare performers for whom the word “perform” is simply not applicable.

He wasn’t seated before the Steinway in the Empie Theater for the sake of showing off technique or demonstrating virtuosity, although he had those in abundance. Rather, as his playing and his exemplary program notes demonstrated, he was there to share with the audience his understanding of the music he was playing, both individually and as the works interrelated.

His program consisted of three selections from Book II of the Well-Tempered Clavier of Bach, three sonatas by Haydn, and Schumann’s Kreisleriana.

The first prelude and fugue, in G major, opened with a lovely undulating phrasing that suggested forward movement without upsetting the work’s tight structure. Within that structure his tone was warmer than one might expect, as if to say, this is not being played on a harpsichord. (Personally I’ve found Bach on a piano more rewarding than on a harpsichord.) In each of the Bach selections, which also included preludes and fugues in F-sharp minor and C-sharp major, Goode proved a master at maintaining very long phrases without at all losing sight of the shorter elements within.

The three Haydn sonatas were the ones in A major, C minor and G major, Hoboken XVI 26, 20 and 40. In his notes Goode referred quite rightly to Haydn’s 55 keyboard sonatas as “perhaps the least known treasures of the piano repertoire,” without speculating on why that’s the case. Goode framed the rather serious A major sonata with two exhibiting some of Haydn’s dry and not-so-dry wit. The opening movement of the first sonata, for example, was sprightly almost to the point of clownishness, and the opening allegretto of the C minor sonata started as a courtly dance, only to turn into almost a lampoon of the style. Did the folks at Esterhazy know they were being mocked?

The concluding Schumann Kreisleriana, based on a literary figure of the fabulist E.T.A. Hoffmann, whom Schumann greatly admired, consists of eight sections of wildly varying moods, each one marked with some synonym, in German, of “fast” or “slow.” Goode’s splendid technique was put perhaps to its maximum use in portraying the core emotion of the section.

And, just to give all credit where it’s due, never has Muhlenberg College’s excellent Steinway sounded more sonorous than under Goode’s fingers.

Musicians and music groups have to work not only on making their music great, but on getting it heard, an Emmy-winning sound editor said Saturday in the keynote address of the first Community Lehigh Valley Music Conference.

And many musical acts are doing that today by finding niche genres, said Harry Snodgrass, who was supervising sound editor and sound effects editor on the hit movie “Napoleon Dynamite” and has been nominated for four Emmy Awards and won for the television movie “Flight 93” in 2006.

“Get your message out there,” Snodgrass told the gathering at The Banana Factory in Bethlehem, where about 100 registrants attended the three-day conference of 17 workshops and clinics and more than 40 music showcases.

Harry Snodgrass

It continues 10:30 a.m. through 8:30 p.m. today.

“Get your message out,” Snodgrass told the workshop audience. “You have to look long into the future and see what people are looking for. You have to understand all the new channels.”

Snodgrass said many new artists are making it by finding niches – such as geek rock -- and even sub niches such as math rock.

“How did grunge start? Where did Nirvana come out of? All of a sudden a label noticed the niche,” Snodgrass said.

“Most artists are spring out of a niche, and niches are getting tighter and tighter,” he said. “This is the wild west.”

The need for hard work and passion to sell your music was a theme repeated throughout the conference, which also included presentations by music managers, promoters, bookers, writers, teachers, promoters, producers, fans and more.

The conference also included presentations by David Ivory, president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Grammy Awards, and Jason Miles, a Grammy Award-winning keyboard player and programmer who has worked with artists such as Luther Vandross, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin and more.

Ivory said the Grammy chapter was reminded that the Lehigh Valley has a rich music scene when members attended the Lehigh Valley Music Awards last December.

“We were truly blown away by your energy,” he said. “I mean that. You guys have a lot going here in your area.”

Ian Bruce, founder of the Lehigh Valley Music Awards, coordinated the conference with Gloria Domina, co-director of the awards. Bruce said work has begun to hold the conference again around the same time next year.

He said the performance part of the conference will be expanded, probably to additional venues, with the workshops during the day and showcases at night. But he said the conference was a success.

“We’ve got passionate people, and those who are here will benefit greatly,” Bruce said.

Like all of Michael Jackson’s eight brothers and sisters, Rebbie Jackson was crushed by the King of Pop’s death June 25, 2009.

But for Rebbie, 59, the oldest sibling, it came at a particularly difficult time. After just a handful of concerts and recordings in a decade, Rebbie — best known for her 1984 hit “Centipede” — had recently ventured back into performing. She played a show in Scranton and had others scheduled when Michael died.

Ten months later, Rebbie (pronounced “Ree-Bee”) will return to the stage — again in Scranton — on Saturday when she headlines “A Nod to Greatness: Motown and More,” a concert also featuring former Temptations lead singer Damon Harris and his tribute band at Lackawanna College’s Mellow Theater.

The concert will be the first by a member of the Jackson family in the United States since Michael’s death.

In a recent telephone call from her Las Vegas home, Rebbie Jackson talked about the upcoming concert, her past, and her iconic late brother. Here is a transcript:

Lehigh Valley Music: How did it come about that you’re playing a show in Scranton?

Rebbie Jackson: “Well actually, I performed in Scranton over a year ago. I performed at one of the rooms at the college there. And that’s how it came about, actually. In fact, I had about three more shows I may have been doing, And of course, with the passing of my brother, I was not able to honor them. And so we just picked up from there, and I had the opportunity to continue working. But this wasn’t part of that – it was just something that they thought of that would be a great idea, with Damon Harris and his group (The Temptations Tribute) and everything.”

And the concert itself, the promotion of it is that it’s going to be a tribute of sorts.

“Well, I’m not doing a tribute. I’ve made it very clear that my part is not the tribute to my brother. I am not doing a tribute. The Temptations are doing – or I should say Damon Harris – they’re doing a tribute to the Temptations. However, what I’m doing is my show that I normally perform when I’m touring or whenever I’ve done anything in the Vegas area. However, there are songs that I perform of my family, my brothers – and Michael as well. But it’s not a tribute to my brother Michael.” (Continued)

After The Fray’s 2005 debut album, “How to Save a Life,” went double-platinum, produced two Top 10 singles with the title track and “Over My Head (Cable Car),” and became the best-selling digital album of all time, it seemed natural for the band to stick close to its recognizable piano rock formula when it released the follow-up.

The Fray, with Welsh at left

And it worked: last year’s “The Fray” debuted at No. 1 and quickly went gold. The first single, “You Found Me,” went double platinum and became the band’s second-best-selling and second-highest charting.

Not only that, The Fray also has won a coveted spot opening U2 on several dated for its massive 360° Tour — though not for the July 12 date at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

But The Fray will play a solo show at 6 p.m. Friday at Villanova University in Philadelphia.

The Fray’s guitarist, Dave Welsh, spoke about the new disc, a new disc and new directions in a recent telephone call from The Fray’s home base in Denver.

Here’s a transcript of the interview:

You guys just got back from Australia?

“Yeah, we got back beginning of last week, I guess. Beginning of this week. I don’t even know. Blame it on the time zones.”

I read that Isaac had some laryngitis in Australia. Everything OK?

“Yeah. It’s fine. It was unfortunate. We had to cancel a show, which we absolutely hate doing, especially when we make the effort to go all the way down to Australia and those people don’t get to see us more than once a year. But it’s fine. Voice is tricky, man, it’s just like a few little pieces of skin that make up a career [Laughs].So it takes a lot of care, and he’s giving it as much attention as he can.”

I read that you guys have already started working on your next album.

“We have, yeah. We’ve been in and out of our studio rehearsal space in Denver the past six, eight months, demoing as much as we can. You know, it’s all on a simplistic, demo level right now. Nothing has been finalized. No final takes or anything like that, but working hard.”

Can you give me any ideas about what the new songs are sounding like? Anything new or different?

“Um, yeah, on a simple level, they are sounding quite different, so I’m not entirely sure.I’ve been asked a few times; I still don’t really know how to put it into words yet; I don’t know if we can define the sound itself. But we are taking risks and we’re allowing ourselves to branch out more, for our sake and for our fans’ sake. I don’t know how it’s all going to take shape once we actually sit down in a proper studio and compose an order. It’ll be different.” (Continued)

The secret to the success of a 100 Monkeys concert is that the band treats it exactly for what it is: A musical outlet for a hot actor (Jackson Rathbone of “Twilight”) and a few of his actor friends, who happen to also be decent musicians.

There’s no pretense that they are a chart-topping act. They play smaller venues such as Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café, where they were Thursday night, and charge a pittance of $10 to get in.

They jam in an often unstructured way, with several songs starting in lurches and coming to awkward endings.

100 Monkeys' Jackson Rathbone

Photos by Brian Hineline/Special to The Morning Call

Since their songs are so little known – sold only from their Web site or digitally – that there wasn’t much need to build tension in the set or even set up an encore: 70 minutes and 13 songs into the night, they simply announced, “We’re going to take a quick break,” and left the stage for 15 minutes before returning for another half hour of music.

And there was no big finish. After 20 songs and 105 minutes of music (including two songs they played with the opening act), just past 11 p.m. (probably curfew for a good many in the crowd of about 250 – virtually all female), Rathbone said, “we’re technically past our time already, so we gotta go,” and they stopped playing.

But they clearly enjoyed what they were doing, and damned if the show wasn’t pretty good: Mostly surf-rock songs, a little R&B thrown in for good measure. They were, by turns, hotly tight (“Wicked World”) and very loose, as if thrown together (“Wing’s on Fire”) but still good, and sometimes very good.

They even added the occasional instrumental surprise: Guitarist (mostly) actor Ben Graupner played trumpet and percussionist Uncle Larry flute on “Twenty to One,” and Rathbone mandolin on the nice, country shuffle “Junkie.”

The band’s practice of its members switching instruments between songs – Rathbone played keyboards, drums, lead guitar, bass and mandolin throughout the night – was interesting, but didn’t affect the music much. Rathbone was decent on all of them – playing keyboard with his arms swinging in a swimming motion, and played decent guitar licks on “The Monkey Song” and nice blues on “Grocery Store No More.”

Rathbone also sang most of the songs, in an affected deep voice. Grauper sang most of the others.

Band members paid tribute to their friend and songwriter, Spencer Bell, who died of cancer -- the band is hosting a legacy concert in his memory April 24 in Dallas. They opened with “Made of Gold,” Rathbone’s tribute to Bell, and he wrote both “The Monkey Song” and “Twenty to One.”

100 Monkeys' Ben Graupner

Despite the band’s low profile, the crowd actually sang the lyrics of some songs – doing a call-and-response with Rathbone on “Orson Brawl.” They also occasionally let loose with some calls of their own: “Love you Jackson!” was heard a couple of times.

And the crowd helped the band do an improv, choosing “Hot Nurses” as the title for the band to sing a stream-of-consciousness song – which they did to a reggae beat.

After closing with “Grocery Store No More,” a song Rathbone said was written in Philadelphia and played live for the first time at 100 Monkeys’ Croc Rock show last spring, the band stayed a good 90 minutes meeting fans, taking pictures and signing autographs.

With that session lasting almost as long as the concert – I’m going to resist the urge to say it lasted till “Twilight” -- it was clear the audience was there for more than the music.

100 Monkeys clearly is no Bob Dylan. They may not even be Matt Dillon. But they put on a good show. And this is, after all, show business.

Piano rock hitmakers The Fray, who next Friday will play at Villanova University in Philadelphia, have been tapped to open shows in June for U2’s massive 360° Tour – though not the tour’s July 12 date at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.

The Fray, with guitarist Dave Welsh at right

Back in October 2006, The Fray, then riding high on its debut album “How To Save a Life,” was tapped for a similar position The Rolling Stones’s show at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

So which opening position is bigger in the minds of The Fray?

For guitarist Dave Welsh, at least, it will be U2.

“Oh, what a great questions – Clash of the Titans,” Welsh says in a recent telephone call from The Fray’s home base of Denver.

Welsh picks U2.

“I will be more excited – only because the one thing that I truly respect about U2 is the fact that they’re able to stay relevant this long in their career, and that they’re doing the largest show in the history of their career almost 30 years into it.

“We’ve seen the show a couple of times now, before we knew that we were going to be on it or anything – we saw their opening gig at Chicago at Soldiers Field. And it’s an insane show. It’s so enormous, that I think to be on the stage as an opening band will be quite a memorable experience. So, though playing with The Rolling Stones would be memorable, too, it’ll be cool to see the convergence of technology in old musician making new music. Tremendous stuff.”

Of course it will be easy to choose if The Fray shows actually come off. The 2006 Atlantic City gig was canceled when Mick Jagger took ill.

The Fray that night also was playing at The Electric Factory in Philadelphia, and, after a sound check, were scheduled to shoot down to AC, play the Stones’ gig, and come back for its headlining set.

“We were en route to the show itself – our crew had already been there setting stuff -- and somebody got a call in the big arena, you know, ‘Mick’s got to cancel the show,’ “ Welsh says. “So we turned the bus around and went back to wherever we were going. We were a mile marker away from playing a show, but it didn’t happen.

Counting Crows, who had the 1990s alt-rock hits “Mr. Jones,” “Round Here” and “Hanginaround,” will be the headliner at Musikfest’s RiverPlace stage on the downtown Bethlehem festival’s opening day Aug. 6, it was announced this morning.

Counting Crows front man Adam Duritz at Allentown Fair in 2007

Ticktets, at $25-52, will go on sale to ArtsQuest members at 10 a.m. Monday and to the general public at 10 a.m. April 23 at www.musikfest.org or by calling 610-332-3378.

Musikfest says an opening act will be announced later.

The Crows played Allentown Fair in a double bill with Hootie and the Blowfish in 2007, drawing 5,045 people and playing a 15-song, 100-minute show. They also played at Susquehanna Bank center in Camden, N.J., with Maroon 5 in 2008, and played Muhlenberg College's Memorial Hall in 2001.

The band, led by charismatic front man Adam Duritz, broke onto the scene in 1993 with its seven-times-platinum album “August and Everything After,” which included “Mr. Jones” and two other Top 30 songs. Its follow-up, 1996’s “Recovering the Satellites,” went to No. 1, sold 2 million copies and produced the hit “A Long December.”

“This Desert Life” in 1999 also went platinum with the hit “Hanginaround,” and 2002’s “Hard Candy” went gold with the hit “Big Yellow Taxi” with Pike County native Vanessa Carlton. A 1998 live album, “Across a Wire: Live in New York City,” also went platinum and hit the Top 20.

The group had a surprise hit in 2004 with “Accidentally in Love” from the soundtrack of the animated movie “Shrek 2.”

The group since has released just one new disc, 2008’s “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings,” two compilation discs and a live disc.

The group is the eighth to be announced for the 10-day Musikfest. which is scheduled Aug. 6-15. Previously announced were Norah Jones on Aug. 7, Martina McBride on Aug. 8, Lynyrd Skynyrd on Aug. 9, Heart on Aug. 10, The Doobie Brothers on Aug. 11, Styx and Blue Oyster Cult on Aug. 12 and Selena Gomez on Aug. 14. Only Aug. 13 and the closing night of Aug. 15 remain to be announced.

Tickets for Styx, Heart and Gomez also go on sale to ArtsQuest members Monday and to the public April 23.

Tyler Grady of Nazareth, who this year became the only resident of Lehigh or Northampton County to make the Top 24 contestants on “American Idol,” sang “The Star Spangled Banner” at the IronPigs’ home opener against the Syracuse Red Wings at Allentown’s Coca-Cola Park.

Tyler Grady sings the National Anthem

Photos By Mike Kubel/The Morning Call

And for a guy who got to perform on national television several times –including once live before he was among the first two contestant viewers voted off this year – the park’s crowd of 9,811 at the park was the largest live crowd Grady has ever faced for a performance.

“It was very cool,” the 20-year-old Grady said. “Cool to look out and see all those people in front of me.”

It also was the first time Grady sang the anthem solo in front of a crowd -- though he jokingly noted that he’s sung it before. “I guess everybody has,” he said.

“It was an absolute honor.” he said. “I always wanted to sing the anthem, and I guess it’s one of the things I can cross off my list.”

Grady – dressed much like he was on “Idol” in stylishly torn jeans, a leather jacket and scarf over a white T-shirt, started moments before 7 p.m., before dusk in the cool air.

He began deep and -- as they might say on “Idol” -- had a couple of pitchy notes early before reaching high, adding some rock rasps and finishing strong. Grady said he was initially thrown off by the half-second delay and heavy echo of his voice.

He kept some of the rock moves that “Idol” judge Kara DioGuardi told him she liked so much – reaching with is hand, holding his finger aloft.

Before and after the performance, he signed autographs and posed for pictures. He got bigger applause than any of the players or Lehigh County executive Don Cunningham, who threw out the first pitch. (Talk about pitch issues).

Grady, with his band Wailing Waters, will return to Coca-Cola Park on May 22 for a pre-game show from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. And Grady said he’ll be back to sing the anthem again later in the season, though he wasn’t sure of the date.

“I would really like to sing the anthem for the Phillies,” Grady said. “I’ll have to see if I can hook that up.”

Here are the shows Grady and Wailing Waters have hooked up until then: They’ll play at Kicker’s Pub in Bath on April 24, Nazareth’s Jacksonian Club on May 7 and Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Cafe on May 14.

Grady also will headline the entertainment at the Festival of Flavors from 1 to 4 p.m. May 16 in Hotel Bethlehem in downtown Bethlehem. Grady will sing, sign autographs and pose for photos. The event also will feature cuisine from Lehigh Valley restaurants, with and caterers. Tickets, at $50 per person, are available by calling the Salvation Army at (610) 432-0129. Proceeds will benefit youth programs of the Salvation Army of the Lehigh Valley.

Wailing Waters also will play at Allentown’s Mayfair festival on May 29, Riverside Barr & Grill in Lower Mount Bethel Township on June 4 and Americaplatz at Bethlehem’s Musikfest festival on Aug. 7.

Community Lehigh Valley Music Conference, a three-day event featuring seminars, workshops and performances based at Bethlehem’s Banana Factory that starts Friday has reduced its admission price to $25 per day or $50 for the weekend.

The initial cost of the conference was $50 per day or $100 for the weekend.

The admission price includes all panels, workshops and performances.

If the performances are moved inside at the Banana Factory because of weather, admission will cost $5.

The conference also added a free children’s workshop and performance by Steve Pullara in the Banana factory’s Banko Room at 10:30a.m. Saturday.

Also added have been kids rock ‘n’ roller/fitness guru Miss Amy, plus more regional radio DJs, including Dina Hall, Mona Rodriquez and Audie Cohen of WDIY-FM and Mike Wurstle of WXLV-FM.

The party and performances at The Funhouse in Bethlehem have been canceled and moved to the Banana Factory.

Organized by Lehigh Valley Music Awards founder Ian Bruce and co-Director Gloria Domina, the conference is the first in 18 years for the valley.Sessions are scheduled on music law, management, promotions, touring, production, nonprofit organizations and getting an act in print, on the radio, in television and films.

Keynote speaker will be Harry Snodgrass, a sound editor, sound designer and recording mixer for film, television and radio. Snodgrass worked on the films “Alien 3,” “Predator 2,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” “American Pie” and “Napoleon Dynamite,” and was nominated for an Emmy Award four times for sound, and won in 2006 for his work on the movie “Flight 93.”

His speech & one man panel will be ""The Business of Music - 45 Ideas for Success."

For something a little different, head to the Cafe del Mar in Belfast on April 17 for a “Beatles Sing-Along.”

Starting at 8 p.m., local musicians John Samuels and Howard Altman will groove to Beatles music and invite you to join in.

Lyrics will be displayed on a screen just in case you forget the words to “Hey Jude,” Let It Be,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Yesterday” and other Beatles hits.

Admission is free.

Cafe del Mar, located at 5881 Sullivan Trail, brings the spirit of the Mediterranean to the region. Its namesake is the original Café del Mar on the Spanish isle Ibiza, famous for it lush ocean sunsets and music.

Poison front man Bret Michaels, who is scheduled to play at Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café on his solo tour in a month, was hospitalized for surgery due to appendicitis Sunday night, according to his Web site, www.bretmichaels.com.

Michaels was to perform in San Antonio on Sunday night, but spent the day with severe stomach pains – what he thought was stomach flu -- before being taken to an undisclosed city hospital shortly before show time.

He was still in the hospital Tuesday, according to the Web site.

“Upon further examination doctors insisted on performing a CAT scan which revealed that the 47-year-old diabetic's appendix was nearly ready to burst, and rushed him into an early Monday morning surgery,” a statement on the site says. “It is now known that his appendix would have more than likely burst on stage that evening quite possibly resulting in death.

“After spiking a fever during the overnight hours, which could be a sign of infection, it is reported that Michaels will remain under doctor's care for an undisclosed amount of time as to monitor his progress watch for complications,” the statement says.

Michaels is on a 200-date tour “Roses and Thorns World Tour” that was to bring him to Croc Rock on May 15.

The Web site says he’ll have to reschedule some dates, and says a new schedule will be posted soon. Michaels was scheduled to play Baton Rouge. La., today and Fort Smith, Ark., on Thursday.

“Michaels who has been known to perform under extreme conditions that would make most performers cancel, will unfortunately have no choice but to reschedule some of his April tour dates,” the posting says.

Hints and rumors that a Scranton concert by Michael Jackson’s oldest sister, Rebbie, next week could turn into a family affair aren’t likely, Rebbie Jackson says.

It will, however, be the first concert in the United States by a member of the Jackson family since Michael's death last year.

The concert, called “A Nod to Greatness: Motown and More,” also will feature The Temptations Tribute, a set of the Motown group’s hits by a band led by Damon Harris – the Temptations’ lead singer from 1971-75.

It’s scheduled for 7 p.m. April 24 in Mellow Theater at Lackawanna College in Scranton.

Listings for the concert on various Michael Jackson fan sites on the Internet give hints of other Jackson family members showing up.

“There will be a mystery guest,” one says.

Rebbie Jackson

Another quotes Rebbie Jackson as saying, “There is going to be some surprises, so be there.”

Yet another says “family members of the King of Pop, led by older sister Rebbie Jackson, will perform a full-fledged concert which will include a very special nod to the late Thriller singer.”

None gives a source for the information.

Listings by the college make so such references; only to Rebbie Jackson and opening act The Temptations Trubute, a band fronted by former temptations singer Damon Harris.

But perhaps the biggest claim came in an e-mail to The Morning Call in which the writer identified himself as Jackson brother Jermaine.

In the e-mail, “Jermaine” says, ”many of us will be there” and that “Janet and Latoya will join Rebbie for … just one song.”

Asked for a way to substantiate his identity, the e-mailer responded, “I would hope that I'm me! Hey, just trying to help,” and did not respond to subsequent e-mails.

Just three weeks ago, Rebbie Jackson accompanied Janet Jackson to the New York premiere of Janet's new movie, "Why Did I Get Married, Too"

But in a telephone interview Saturday, Rebbie Jackson said she doesn’t expect her siblings to be at the show.

“Not that I know of – if there are, it’s a surprise to me,” she said.

Told about the “Jermaine” e-mail, she said, “I believe it was someone else. Not that [family members] wouldn’t come. But I’ve been talking with Jermaine, and people do that kind of thing to us all the time. They’ve done it to me – they perpetrate and came off as if they were me.”

Even if the e-mailer was Jermaine, he’s been wrong before. For a Sept. 26 tribute concert in Vienna, Jermaine had promised some of the planet's biggest stars would take the stage in front of a 17th-century palace: Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown, Sister Sledge and Natalie Cole.

That concert later was canceled.

Read a story about Rebbie Jackson and the concert in The Morning Call on Sunday and the full interview with her here at Lehigh Valley Music blog.

But all in all, we’d like to see former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters perform “The Wall.”

And now we can.

Waters, with a full band, will tour with a show in which he will play “The Wall” – Pink Floyd’s blockbuster 1980 album – in its entirety.

The show is scheduled to stop at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 5, the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Nov. 3 and Philadelphia’s Wachovia Center on Nov. 8 and 9. The Philly dates and dates in Chicago on Sept. 20 and 21 are the only multi-show stop in the tour’s 35 dates.

The tour kicks off Sept. 15 in Toronto and finishes in Anaheim, Calif., on Dec. 13. Ticket prices and sale dates have not been announced.

Pink Floyd toured with a “Wall” show in 1980-81, but only 12 shows were played in the United States – all in Los Angeles and Uniondale, N.Y. Waters also played “The Wall” in 1990 in Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall.

On his Web site, www.rogerwaters.com, under the heading “Why am I doing The Wall again, now?” Waters says:

“It has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with its concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns.: Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, Whatever! All these issues and ‘isms are driven by the same fears that drove my young life.

“This new production of The Wall is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament, and is dedicated to all the innocent lost in the intervening years.”

“I believe we have at least a chance to aspire to something better than the dog eat dog ritual slaughter that is our current response to our institutionalized fear of each other.

“I feel it is my responsibility as an artist to express my, albeit guarded, optimism, and encourage others to do the same. To quote the great man, ‘You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.’ ”

The Grateful Dead tribute band Dark Star Orchestra will play Musikfest’s Performing Arts Series at 7 p.m. Aug. 9, it was just announced.

Tickets for the show, at $30, will go on sale to ArtsQuest members at 10 a.m. April 19 and to the public at 10 a.m. April 23.

The show will be on the 15th anniversary of Dead founding member Jerry Garcia's death. It will be the band’s second appearance at the festival. On Aug. 8, 2007, the group performed a sold-out show at Zoellner.

The band, which has played 1,700 shows over the past 12 years, recreates The Dead’s deep catalog with such precision that Dead members, including Bob Weir, have occasionally played with the band. And the Grateful Dead legacy band Furthur – which included Weir and Dead bassist Phil Lesh -- recently borrowed Dark Star Orchestra's lead singer, John Kadlecik .

Because Furthur will tour this summer - it will play a sold-out show at Penn's Peak near Jim Thorpe on June 25 – it’s unclear whether Kadlecik will play the Musikfest show.

Furthur’s tour currently plays through a July 10 date at Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

Dark Star Orchestra also has played Penn’s Peak several times in recent years.

The Broadway musical based on Green Day’s “American Idiot” CD is ready to open and MTV is setting the stage with a behind-the-scenes look at the show on Friday.

“Green Day Rocks Broadway” kicks off at 7 p.m. Featured will be exclusive interviews with Green Day members and the show’s cast and crew, along with rehearsal footage.

The show will be repeated at midnight Saturday on MTV2, 5 p.m. Saturday on mtvU and 1 p.m. Monday on MTV Hits.

“American Idiot,” which debuts at the St. James Theatre on April 20, follows the journey of a new generation of young Americans as they strive to find meaning in a post 9/11 world. The musical includes every song from the acclaimed album, as well as several songs from the Green Day’s Grammy-winning new release, “21st Century Breakdown.”

Green Day isn’t in the show, a 19-member cast led by Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr. (“Spring Awakening”), will perform the songs, including “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.”

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and the band collaborated with the acclaimed creative team led by Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening”), two-time Tony Award-winning composer and orchestrator Tom Kitt (“Next to Normal”) and Olivier Award-winning choreographer Steven Hoggett (“Black Watch”).

“American Idol” has been frustrating this year, with weekly criticism that that judges are wildly inconsistent – telling Nazareth’s Tyler Grady they loved his ‘70s vibe one week, then savaging him for singing “American Woman” the next, even though it was Lenny Kravitz’s 1999 version he did.

The Beatles -- keeping it current?

The judges are forever stressing how contestants have to make the songs current, current, current. But what does the show do? it straps them with Beatles songs, the most recent of which was written, ahem, 40 years ago.

Not a single contestant last week sounded current, And when northeast Pennsylvania’s Aaron Kelly did the Beatles’ last charting new song, “The Long and Winding Road,” hewas beaten up for it.

Not counting the previously unreleased and remastered song “Real Love” in 1996, which charted because of its oddity, when was the last time a Beatles song was on the charts? Aerosmith’s cover of “Come Together” in 1978?

Plus, the show had just done The Beatles two years ago!

So now tonight, the show is having contestants sing songs of Elvis Presley. So when was the last time an Elvis song was on the charts? His version of “My Way” after his death in 1977? Cheap Trick’s cover of “Don’t Be Cruel” in 1988?

Elvis: Last hit song was 33 years ago

The show just seems so clueless. If they want the contestants to be current, maybe they should have them sing songs of current artists with deep catalogs.

How about the songs of U2? Theirs are varied and plenty. How about songs of Springsteen, who also has actually had charting singles in the past 20 years.

If they want classic artists, how about Bob Dylan, whose song “Make You Feel My Love” Garth Brooks took to No. 1 in 1998, and who had a NEW album hit No. 1 last year.

I hate to even say it, but how about the songs of Madonnna?

Help me out here: Am I wrong and “Idol” is doing the right thing? Or whose songbook would you like to see “Idol” contestants do?

Legendary folk singer Richie Havens, Celtic group Cherish the Ladies, rock legend Dave Mason, country artist Suzy Bogguss, the jazzy Joe Lovano and John Scofield Quartet and “The Music of Simon & Garfunkel” will be featured in the 2010 PNC Bank Candlelight Concert Series at Musikfest. All concerts will take place at 7 p.m. in Moravian College’s Foy Concert Hall, Main and Church streets, Bethlehem.

The series opens Aug. 6 with “The Music of Simon & Garfunkel,” performed by A.J. Swearingen and Jonathan Beedle. Swearingen and Beedle have been paying tribute to the legendary folksingers for more than a decade, with Swearingen’s warm baritone and Beedle’s soaring tenor. Tickets are $20.

Two of the most acclaimed contemporary jazz artists — tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano and John Scofield Quaret, featuring the great guitarist — reunite Aug. 7. Tickets are $47.

On Aug. 8, legendary folksinger Richie Havens takes the Foy Concert Hall stage. Havens, best known for his searing “Freedom” at Woodstock, remains a vibrant touring musician. His most recent release was 2008’s “Nobody Left to Crown.” Tickets are $34.

Arriving on Aug. 12 will be Cherish The Ladies, a traditional Irish-American folk group that was the first all-female professional ensemble in Irish music. The group’s performances are as renowned for their impeccable musicianship as they are for their exciting theatrical flair. Current members include Roisin Dillion, fiddle; Michelle Burke, vocals; Mirella Murray, accordion, and Kathleen Boyle, piano. Tickets are $32.

On Aug. 13, the legendary Dave Mason, brings his rock hits to Foy Hall. A former member of the psychedelic rock group Traffic, Mason has had a successful solo career — his biggest hit was 1977’s “We Just Disagree.” Tickets are $40.

Wrapping up the sereis on Aug. 14 will be Grammy winner Suzy Bogguss, who blends country music’s traditional sounds with contemporary mainstream sensibility. Tickets are $32.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday to ArtsQuest members and 10 a.m. April 23 to the public. Call 610-332-FEST or go to www.musikfest.org.

Musikfest 2010, presented by ArtsQuest, will take place 5-11 p.m. Aug. 6 and noon-11 p.m. Aug. 7-15. The festival will features 500 musical performances on 14 indoor and outdoor stages throughout Bethlehem's historic downtown. In addition, the event will showcase delicious food and desserts by more than 60 vendors, children's activities, visual arts and crafts and a closing-night fireworks display.

Knowing that Simon Cowell will be leaving “American Idol” after this year, I’ve been keen to sharpen my skills so I’m prepared when the inevitable call comes for me to slide into his seat.

The new Simon Cowell?

So when the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg recently asked whether I’d help judge its Clash for Cash battle of the bands Saturday, I quickly accepted – figuring I’d make the process easier for the people at FOX-TV.

The old Simon Cowell

The night didn’t go the way I expected: Many of the acts were surprisingly good, and the judges didn’t get much time on the microphone. The show’s tight schedule of having 12 bands play 20 minutes each left too little time and too much clamoring on stage to get in much judges’ comment.

I did get to comment twice during the night, but both came after some of the night’s better performances. Instead of snide Cowell-isms, I sputtered something like, “Wow, the competition’s good tonight” and “Some of these bands need to play in the Lehigh Valley.”

My voting was very Cowell-esque, however. Out of 300 possible points, I gave one band 80 and three of them less than 150, meaning less than a 50 percent score. They honestly didn’t deserve better.

The bands I scored as places 1 through 5 actually finished in those positions, which speaks well of my judging.

The winner was Survay Says!, a very good young ska band from Blairstown, N.J. Though some of its nine members are still in high school, they had an incredible stage presence, and their music was both appealingly chaotic and tight at the same time. They deserved to win.

Their Web site says they’re opening for Sparks The Rescue and We Are the In Crowd at Allentown’s Crocodile Rock Café tonight. They got $1,700 in prize money.

Survay Says!

Their margin of victory over second place Eidleweis, an even younger, also ska-influenced band was 14 points total (out of 900) for the three judges. That band has a particularly good drummer who reminds me of a young Larry Mullin Jr. from U2. Their chime-y guitars also remind me of U2.

Third place was The BrightLife, a pop-punk band from East Stroudsburg that has played the Vans Warped Tour and will play a May 28 set on the Master Class stag at Allentown’s Mayfair festival of the arts – which is an indication of how tough the competition was at Clash for Cash.

Though most of the contest was original songs, The BrightLife did a punky cover of N’Sync’s “Tearin’ Up My Heart” that was a hoot. Survay Says! Also did a cover – Ke$ha’s “Tic Toc,” also a hoot.

That may have been a weakness in the scoring method of the contest: It equally weighed musical talent, on-stage performance and audience response.

The fourth-place Seventh Stone – a Blue Oyster Cult-ish rock band (Yes, they played cowbell) got my perfect score for musical talent, but had few vocal fans in the crowd and got low audience response marks. Same for Gentleman’s Club, which got a score of 90 from me on musical talent, but also came up short on audience response.

So that was my stint in training for Simon Cowell’s job. I may not get it, but let this show that I can thoughtfully judge musical performances.

Here’s a final example: Before the contest, one of the four (!) guitarists in the band Murder in the Chapel approached me.

“You don’t listen to music like ours, do you?” he said.

I said, “What kind of music do you play?”

“Death metal,” he said.

“Sometimes,” I said.

Murder in the Chapel had its points: Nice head-banging choreography, a good growler/screamer pair of singers, an effort at making it a show. But their songs weren’t very original, and their musicianship wasn’t outstanding.

They finished in the low middle of my votes in a strong field. Simon would have approved.

“Everything is Alright,” an album by Lehigh Valley-based Burning Bridget Cleary, has been named Album of the Year by the Celtic Radio Music Awards of Highland Radio, a 24-hour Internet radio station at CelticRadio.net.

The award acknowledges “musical creativity and extraordinary work on an album which provides recognition of exceptional contributions to Celtic music.”

Burning Bridget Cleary was formed five years ago by teen fiddlers Rose Baldino and Genevieve Gillespie, along with Rose’s father Lou on guitar. They have since been joined by Peter Trezzi on djembe. The group was named after Bridget Cleary, a vivacious young Irish woman burned as a witch in the late 19th century after catching the flu. She was the last witch burned burned in Ireland.

“Everything is Alright” is the group’s second CD. It’s a high-energy romp of 13 original and cover songs.“This CD has the depth and character of musicians many years advanced to their young ages and we will are very much anticipating their future recordings,” said the station.

In addition to album of the year, the station awards honors in individual categories of Celtic music. Nominations are made throughout the year by listeners and members of Highlander Radio. The station considers the nominations, along with ratings, requests and other radio statistics and chooses three for public vote in each category.

Two of the songs on Burning Bridget Cleary’s “Everything is Alright” also won awards — “Three Set” in the jigs and reels category and “Soldier, Soldier” in the contemporary category.

Other winners include Enter the Haggis, for Celtic rock, with “Murphy’s Rock” from “Gutter Anthems”; Celtic Thunder for traditional, with “Caledonia” from “Act Two”; Jim McRae for bagpipes, with “The Queen’s Piper Medley” from “Global Gathering,” and Celtic Thunder for roots traditional, with “Raggle Taggle Gypsy” from “Act Two.”

Rose and Genevieve are now in college, so their performance schedule is limited. Here’s what’s on tap.

Not many true Gypsy rhythms could be heard in the Allentown Symphony Orchestra’s “Gypsy Rhythms” concert Saturday and Sunday at Symphony Hall.

But the colorful program of splendidly-played pieces I heard on Sunday, redolent with Hungarian and Romanian folk tunes and drama, was a treat.

The opener, Enesco’s “Rumanian Rhapsody No. 1,” set the tone. Under the baton of Diane Wittry, the orchestra brimmed with snap and sparkle, with music chock full of high spirits and Eastern European folk melodies.

Stravinsky’s “Ragtime for Eleven Instruments,” in an ensemble of ASO principals conducted by associate conductor Ronald Demkee, introduced the program’s featured instrument — the cimbalom, a hammered dulcimer common among the Gypsy people of Austria-Hungary.

While the only gypsies evident in Stravinsky’s American jazz-inspired piece of 1918 might be of the Greenwich Village variety, the work was still delightful, filled with the primitive syncopations of early jazz. Cimbalom soloist Laurence Kaptain was a pleasure to watch, his hammers flying though the air, miraculously finding the right notes buried in the instrument’s mysterious nest of strings.

Even more mysterious was the sound of the instrument itself, which I can only describe as a cross between a harpsichord and a sitar. Its lovely, exotic sound was highlighted in Zoltán Kodály’s suite from the Hungarian folk opera “Háry János,” a work often performed in this country, but rarely with a cimbalom.The piece was a programmatic feast of sound painting. One could hear church bells chiming, soldiers marching, cannons booming, and an exquisitely lyrical vocal line by violist Agnes Maurer, echoed seductively by oboist Megan Marolf. With cymbals crashing, it closed in a thunderous coda, in a resounding explosion of brass.

Béla Bartók’s “Concerto for Orchestra” has proven to be the composer’s most popular work, due in large part to the directness of its language. This performance - the first time played in its entirety in the Lehigh Valley, according to Wittry - could not have been a more perfect showpiece for the exceptional level of musicianship the orchestra has reached.

As the title suggests, the work treats the various sections and solo instruments of the orchestra as if they were protagonists in a concerto. Sooner or later, every principal player is called upon to solo, yet all this virtuosity is integrated into a work of deep expressive content. It showcased not only some really finely-honed ensemble playing, but some marvelous instrumental solos as well. These included Catherine DeBoeser on piccolo, John Schwartz and Deborah Andrus on clarinet, Robin Kani and Allison Kiger on flute, Susan Shaw and Lee Walk on Bassoon, and Ron Demkee on tuba.

The exhilarating program ended with a fast, fun, and furious excerpt from Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2.” Although delightfully Warner Brothers cartoonish and wonderfully played, I personally felt that ending with Bartók would have made a more powerful statement.

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.